First batch of home brew-help!

[treats54]

As a rookie home brewer I believe I have made a major rookie mistake and need some input on how to possibly correct things. For my first batch, I thought I would start with something easy-so I chose a Pacifico Clone recipe. The kit came with all of the ingredients except for the yeast. I ordered a vial of While Labs liquid Mexican Lager Yeast and had it shipped regular UPS. As things would go, it was rather warm last week and the ice pack that the yeast was shipped with turned into more of a heating pad by the time it arrived, but I put it in the fridge anyway. Yesterday I brewed the beer following all the directions. When I opened the vial of yeast, it exploded like a shaken can of soda. I quickly closed it, the reopened it right above the carboy and added what was left- I am guessing I lost 25%. It has been 13 hours and no signs of fermentation yet.

So I mostly have two questions-
1.Is the yeast (and the beer) going to be ok?
2. If not, can it be corrected?


And a follow up question- What is the best way to clean beer bottles? And how close to filling them should they be cleaned?

 

[Pratzie]

if u can get another pack asap, i'd get one and repitch. lagers need higher yeast cell count to begin with, plus it was warm when u got it which wasn't good and then lost 1/4 of it. what was the packaged date on the vial?

As far as the second question, get a beer bottle brush and use that with some sanitizer IF u are recycling used bottles. They may need a good scrubbing unless u rinsed them when u got done drinking them. Otherwise, get a bottle tree or look in the DIY section for bottle rinsers and grab one of them. i usually sanitize my bottles after i bring the carboy up to the kitchen. The wait gives any sediment that may have been kicked up a chance to settle. I usually do the bottles then as it'll take a good 15 minutes or so do go thru 48-50 of them.

 

[cheesehed007]

13 hours is still too early to tell. Fermentation can take up a few days to start. And f you have a LHBS you could pick some more yeast and repitch if it doesn't. The way I lean my bottles is to first soak them in some one-step for 15-20 min. Then use a brush to get all the gunk out and the labels off. I then stick them in the dish washer with NO soap for a wash cycle. I put them upside down in cases and then sanitize them on bottling day.. Good luck!

 

[treats54]

I do not see a packaged date on the vial, but the exp date is Sept-01-2013. I live in the boonies, but will be driving into the city tomorrow and see that there is a home brew store there. If they have what I need, perhaps another vial of the liquid yeast, should I repitch with the entire vial?

 

[billl]

How are you controlling the temps? A lager is certainly not an easy first brew.

 

[Hex23]

I do not see a packaged date on the vial, but the exp date is Sept-01-2013. I live in the boonies, but will be driving into the city tomorrow and see that there is a home brew store there. If they have what I need, perhaps another vial of the liquid yeast, should I repitch with the entire vial?

White labs expiration date is +4 months from manufacture, so you didn't start with the freshest yeast to begin with. Your fermentation might start, but I'd definitely go with the earlier advice and get some more and pitch it all since you are probably already underpitching. In fact, might as well get two vials to pitch, as lagers need to be pitched at higher rates anyway.

 

[Hex23]

13 hours is still too early to tell.

Especially for a lager, assuming OP is fermenting at lower temps (like 50F)

 

[Hex23]

And a follow up question- What is the best way to clean beer bottles? And how close to filling them should they be cleaned?

If you have a sanitizing mode on your dishwasher it can be really convenient for this. Just remove any solid residue and don't use any detergent or rinse agent.

 

[Pratzie]

Yeah pitch the entire second vial but u wanna pitch it ASAP

 

[treats54]

I picked up a second vial of yeast and will pitch it tonight when I get home.

When I started reading directions, I did not see that the Pacifico should be stored at 50 degrees. It is in a basement room with no windows and the temp in the room stays right around 68. Therefore I now assume that this is being done more in the manner of an ale than a lager. Is this going to be a drinkable batch of beer?

 

[unionrdr]

Might turn out like a steam beer. I delabel my bottles in a 12 pack coller with PBW overnight. I then use a bottle brush & Dobie brand scrubber to gert the softened glue,etc off. Otherwise,I rinse the emptied bottles out,Fill with water up to the shoulder,& bottle brush them well. Rinse again & onto the bottle tre to dry before storage. I use that bottle tree & vinator with Starsan to sanitize them on bottling day right before filling.

 

[Magic8Ball]

I picked up a second vial of yeast and will pitch it tonight when I get home.

When I started reading directions, I did not see that the Pacifico should be stored at 50 degrees. It is in a basement room with no windows and the temp in the room stays right around 68. Therefore I now assume that this is being done more in the manner of an ale than a lager. Is this going to be a drinkable batch of beer?

if you use a lager yeast fermented at ale temps, it will have unpleasant esters and most likely not taste very good.

At this point see if your LHBS will take bake the Pacifico yeast, try a neutral dry yeast like a US-05 at this point. Rehydrate first.

FWIW WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast can go higher than 65, low 60's is best.

 

[kh54s10]

Many of these "lager" kits and recipes are being brewed as a hybrid ale. Using lager yeasts but fermenting at ale temperatures. Even an though it is an ale the OP probably lost some yeast opening the pressurized vial, no starter was made, so this beer was severely underpitched. Another vial as the OP has purchased is advisable.

Look into making a swamp cooler and getting the temperature down some more. The fermentation will add 5-10 degrees above ambient.

Cleaning bottles. If recently drunk, rinse well and store. If it has dried gunk inside, soak in oxyclean overnight a bottle brush might be needed to loosen all the gunk, then rinse well and store. On bottling day I give them another rinse, sanitize with Starsan or Iodaphor and fill.

 

[kh54s10]

if you use a lager yeast fermented at ale temps, it will have unpleasant esters and most likely not taste very good.

At this point see if your LHBS will take bake the Pacifico yeast, try a neutral dry yeast like a US-05 at this point. Rehydrate first.

FWIW WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast can go higher than 65, low 60's is best.

This is not always true. I have made a couple of these hybrids using lager yeasts. They turned out very nice.

 

[woozy]

And a follow up question- And how close to filling [beer bottles] should they be cleaned?

Cleaning is different then sanitizing. They can be cleaned *years* before bottling (as long as grime and dust doesn't build up). They should be sanitized the day of bottling.

Sanitizing in the dishwasher is okay, but that is a dry (heat kills the microbe) sanitation so as soon as the bottles cool microbes will start landing on the bottles. So the clock is on for bottling as quickly as possible. You might want to keep starsan or iodophor in a spay bottle and spitz the necks and insides a little.

Wet Sanitizing with starsan or iodophor is easy if you have a funnel (and ya gotta have a funnel!). Just fill the bottles and empty them and don't rinse.

 

[woozy]

I did not see that the Pacifico should be stored at 50 degrees. ... Is this going to be a drinkable batch of beer?

Drinkable? *Definitely*.

Good? Well, who's to say? It' might come out like a steam beer and it might come out like a hybrid. Or it might be kinda bad/not that great. But it'll definitely be drinkable. (And it might be good. But it won't be the lager you were hoping for.)

I'd cut my losses, call it a learning experience, and brew an ale next time. But i *would* drink this. And I *would* enjoy it.

 

[unionrdr]

I gave the funnel with Starsan thing up a long time ago. The vinator on top of my bottle tree half filled with Starsan is def the way to go. Quick & easy,it only takes up about a 2 square foot area.

 

[woozy]

I gave the funnel with Starsan thing up a long time ago. The vinator on top of my bottle tree half filled with Starsan is def the way to go. Quick & easy,it only takes up about a 2 square foot area.

Oh.

well. good.

Well, the point is wet sanitizing is easy. You just get the sanitizer into the bottle one way or another and presto!

 

[treats54]

Thanks to everyone for their input.

I did pick up another bottle of white labs yeast, however they did not have the same Mexican Lager yeast. The fella there gave me a bottle of Cry Havoc yeast. In his humble opinion it was one he had available that might work well with what I have going.

In reading here, I did pick up on the difference between cleaning and sanitizing. But when sanitizing, does each bottle needs it's own fresh solution of iodophor, or can it be poured from one bottle to the next?

 

[n240sxguy]

When I was bottling, I would use star-San and a funnel. Just pour from one bottle to the next.